A £40 million fund to make dangerous roads safer for cyclists has been criticised as “very small money”.

The cash, announced yesterday, includes £20 million of central government funding — to be matched by local councils — for 78 roads and junctions in England.

British Cycling, the organising body for Team GB’s cycle stars, and the Labour MP Ian Austin, who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, commented that it was a very small outlay compared with the money spent on roads and railways.

Martin Gibbs, British Cycling’s policy director, said that the Government needed to commit to “sustained investment of serious money” for cycle lanes if it was to support the explosion in the number of cyclists taking to Britain’s streets.

He added: “British Cycling welcomes any investment in making cycling safer and more attractive, and we were involved in the selection of the schemes that have been announced.

“But in the context of the overall transport budget this is very small money — about the cost of a small chocolate bar per head.”

Mr Austin, the MP for Dudley North, said: “Any extra money for cycling is obviously welcome, but given the scale of the Department for Transport’s overall budget and the money it earmarks for new road and rail schemes, this does seem like a drop in the ocean.

“What we need to see is a long-term plan, supported by all the political parties, to spend more of the department’s existing budget on getting Britain cycling and to provide many other benefits, such as better health and reduced congestion.”

The Department for Transport’s total expenditure for 2012-13 is forecast to be £13.1 billion. The £20 million allocated yesterday for cycle safety improvements amounts to 0.15 per cent of that budget. Norman Baker, the Transport Minister, said that the money was part of a £107 million investment in cycling infrastructure in the past year.

This is 0.8 per cent of the DfT’s total budget when cyclists make up at least 2 per cent of traffic on Britain’s roads, and as much as 20 per cent in cities such as Cambridge. At a time when £3 billion is being spent on an upgrade to the A9 road in Scotland and £1 billion has been earmarked for a new toll motorway in South Wales, the spend on cycling has been criticised as minimal.

A spokesman for British Cycling said: “Around 2 per cent of journeys people make in this country are by bike so we need to see 2 per cent of the country’s transport spending allocated to cycling.”

The fund announced yesterday will be spent on improvements to junctions around England, but outside London, over the next 12 months with the North West due to receive the most — £14.8 million — to improve roads in Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster and other towns. Consumer figures show that 11 million Britons ride their bikes at least once a week, while 3.1 million say that they cycle “most days”.

Research by the analysts Mintel found that 41 per cent of Britons consider themselves to be cyclists, an increase from 34 per cent a year ago.